


Star Crossed

by blacklilyqueen



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, blackinnon
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-27
Updated: 2019-02-26
Packaged: 2019-09-01 11:17:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death, Underage
Chapters: 10
Words: 23,616
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16764088
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blacklilyqueen/pseuds/blacklilyqueen
Summary: Sirius and Marlene were just children when they first met. They soon became great friends, but none of them could have known what the future would hold for the two of them.





	1. Chapter 1

It was already late in the evening, when suddenly some figures appeared out of nowhere on the sparsely lit street. The unexpected appearance of this group was not the only unusual thing, however; their clothes also seemed quite strange. Had they been noticed, some might have thought they were on their way to a costume party and others might have just wondered about the strange fashion taste of some people. But fortunately, no one was around to ask questions. This was because there was nothing nearby, at least nothing that would make anyone come to this place. The only thing that marked the road was an old house that was already past its peak. Most of the windows were broken or poorly locked with wooden planks, in the garden the weed proliferated and a huge hole gaped in the roof of the house.

While four of the people slowly made their way towards the building, the youngest of them stopped and looked around curiously. The young girl tried to grasp everything around her, from the run-down house, to the gnarled trees on the opposite meadow, to the church tower of the nearest village, and with every movement of her head her blond curls jumped around her face. Her gaze also wandered towards the night sky, where the stars were already sparkling. A particularly brightly shining star had taken full advantage of her attention, so that she did not even notice how her family was moving further and further away. Only when she heard someone calling her name could she avert her gaze and realize that there was only one person left. She hurriedly ran to the woman waiting impatiently for her.

"Marlene, I've told you a thousand times that you shouldn't dawdle like this."

"Sorry, Mom, but..."

"No buts! Now hurry up, the others are waiting."

She took the child by the hand and took another step towards the house. Suddenly they no longer stood in front of a run-down house, but in front of a magnificent building that could have been the manor of a noble family. It was as if they had stepped through a magical wall that only now gave them a view of the huge estate. Marlene's father and her brothers, who had only just crossed the magic shortly before, were now also visible again and were already waiting for the two women to finally go inside the building. A stern look from her father revealed to Marlene that he was not particularly enthusiastic about her dawdling either, but he quickly turned away from her again and turned his attention to the front door in front of him. Even before he had the chance to knock, the door opened by itself. On closer inspection, however, it became clear that this was not due to another spell, but rather to a house-elf bowing deeply and asking the McKinnons in with a hand gesture. While her parents and brothers simply entered without looking at her again, Marlene smiled at the creature, which was only a few centimetres smaller than herself, and then ran after her family. 

Only a few moments later they were already standing in the middle of a large room filled with cheerfully entertaining people. It didn't take two seconds before a lady, who probably wanted to distract from the wrinkles in her face and grey hair with a lot of jewellery, approached them. She liked the lady with the jewellery, after all, it was her grandmother. A brief glance towards her mother assured the young girl, however, that she had hoped to avoid this encounter for a while, despite the smile on her face. Marlene had never understood why they didn't get along, but she was too happy and excited to think about it that night.

"Mother, I had been wondering how long it would take you to find us, even though I had frankly hoped to find some alcohol before," even if it would seem like a little teasing to outsiders, everyone involved knew that there was a spark of truth in Marlene's father's statement.

"I am glad to see you again, Niklas. And of course I'm happy to see my wonderful grandchildren again," she just went on without paying any further attention to his comment - or his wife. "You've all grown so big, I can hardly remember the last time I saw you. I'm sure it wouldn't be so long ago if your father would let me hear from him now and then. Merlin's beard, Kagan, don't just stand there crooked and Cole take your hands out of your trouser pocket. You're not toddlers anymore, even your sister behaves better than you two. Where's Nicolai anyway?"

The absence of the eldest son of the McKinnon’s prompted her to end her torrent of words earlier than usual. For a moment nobody answered, because nobody had expected that she would stop talking right now, because if Anichka McKinnon was good at one thing, it was never-ending babbling, preferably by criticizing others. However Marlene’s father answered for them.

"He can't come today, he has to take care of…important things."

"Important things? This is his aunt's engagement party. What's so important? Niklas, your sister is 35 and has only now finally managed to find a decent man and you want to tell me that your son does not manage to come to this incredibly significant event?"

"Significant for you, mother. "Be glad that he can at least come to the wedding and now please excuse us, we would also like to talk to the other guests."

Without waiting for an answer, he passed her, closely followed by his family. It did not take long before the two boys found an excuse to part with the small group, so that Marlene was now alone with her parents. Her previous excitement dwindled more and more. Bored, she tried to listen to the adults conversations, but rarely understood what was at stake. Tiredness also began to take over, but whether this was a consequence of boredom or due to how late it was already being not entirely clear. But Marlene didn't seem to be the only one who was feeling like this. In the room next door, a black-haired, obviously extremely bored boy was busy getting on his mother's nerves. 

"Mom? Mother? Mom? Moooom?"

"Sirius, be quiet! People are starting to stare at us."

"But I'm bored. Why did I even have to go?"

"Sirius Orion Black, for the last time, stop asking stupid questions, be quiet and just once in your life act like a normal wizard."

Reluctantly, the boy fell silent. He knew there would be bad consequences if he disturbed his mother any longer. His gaze wandered through the room hoping to discover something interesting, unfortunately in vain. For what felt like an eternity he stood only with his parents, wobbled restlessly back and forth on the spot and continued to observe the people in the room. He had completely blocked out his parents, so that he didn't even notice how their conversation partners came and went. However, when he turned his attention back to his parents after a while, they were just immersed in a conversation with another witch.

"I was against it from the beginning, but he's such a stubborn guy. You're lucky your two boys are still so young."

"I really don't understand what your problem is, Orlena. It's a great opportunity for him, and we all know it's the only right thing to do."

"The only right thing? Don't you think that's a little extreme? Just remember what happened to Iliana."

"None of us know exactly what happened back then. You should stop listening to such stupid rumours."

Since he had nothing better to do anyway, Sirius tried to follow the conversation somehow, but no matter how hard he tried, he had no idea what they were talking about. What struck him, however, was the tension of both women while they were talking about this topic. It was like they both wanted to say something, but nobody dared to say it. Before the two could continue their conversation, a man came up, Sirius suspected that it was the woman's husband, and whispered something to her. Thereupon the woman turned again to Walburga to tell her that something had happened and that she would have to leave now. Sirius could not understand exactly what had happened, since something else had already claimed his attention. Behind the man, a little blonde girl, about Sirius' age, who had previously been hidden behind her father, stepped forward. She smiled at him briefly before her mother pushed her gently towards the exit.

Both of them knew at that time that they would meet again eventually, even if it was not clear when exactly. But neither of them could have imagined what the future would hold for them.


	2. Chapter 2

Numerous festivals where the pure-blooded wizard families of England met followed and it didn't take long until the two met again. Two small children who were looking for someone their own age between all the adults who seemed so busy and had finally found someone. So it was hardly surprising that a close friendship soon developed between the two. The time they spent was full of silliness and laughter and at some point it was unimaginable to see one of them without the other. In every free minute they hoped to see each other again soon or to receive one letter from the other.

Frequent visits of Marlene in Number 12 Grimmauld Place were not uncommon and even more often Sirius found himself in the McKinnon Manor near Glasgow. But just staying at the McKinnon Manor would have been way too boring for the two children, especially considering that there was a big lake just a few meters away from the house. A lot of the time hours passed in which they gambolled around the shore, played hide-and-seek in the nearby forest or organise competitions in the most diverse disciplines, regardless of whether it was about who could skip a stone the farthest or who could climb the highest in the trees. During this time it was as if they were in their very own world, where everything was perfect and intact and so very different from reality. It often happened that neither of them noticed how much time had passed when they were busy with their own little world until twilight spread and they slowly made their way back to the house, back to reality.

Only a few moments after entering the house, Sirius was already on his way home with the floo network and neither of them was enthusiastic about it. Sirius did not want to return to the dark halls in Grimmauld Place, where there would inevitably be further arguments with his mother. But the encounter with his mother was not his greatest concern. His father would soon return home after a long time and although Sirius' relationship with his mother was tense, it had never been as bad as that with his father. Orion's constant absence had already led to him being more like a strange, distant relative to Sirius than a father. But Sirius didn't want to upset him, because no matter how rare the times he was at home might be, Sirius was incredibly afraid of him. Should he really be back now, Sirius would take care not to do anything that could displease his father.

But Marlene didn't have it easy either. Cole was at Hogwarts most of the year and her other two brothers had moved out a few years ago. She was now all alone with her parents in the huge house and sometimes the big rooms and high white walls could be pretty scary when you were alone there. Also the empty rooms of her siblings left the impression as if everything and everyone left this house one by one. Marlene could have sworn a few times that she had seen a ghost on one of the upper floors, but her parents insisted that there were no ghosts in this house. Although ghosts were nothing unusual in the magical world, no one unexpectedly wanted to find one in their own house and small children certainly did not. But although at first glance the house didn't even look alarming, there were some things that sometimes lead to Marlene’s desire to disappear from the house, such as the locked door on the second floor together with her mother's warning that she should never try to open that door. What kept Marlene most busy, however, were not some ghosts or locked doors, but her sister's room. After she died three years ago, her parents did not simply take her things away, but instead left them in her room instead. Every time Marlene walked past this room and looked inside, it seemed as if Iliana could be coming in through the door at any moment, as if nothing had happened and for Marlene that was the scariest thing about this whole house.

However, both were aware that fortunately their next meeting was in the not so distant future. Marlene's aunt, whose engagement party had already led to the first meeting of Marlene and Sirius, was expecting a baby and once again the most respected wizards and witches of Great Britain were invited to the celebration. Marlene never understood what all the drama was about. Would it not have been enough to have a little celebration with family and closest friends? But obviously she was the only one who thought so. The fact that she would soon see Sirius again, however, was not the only good news for Marlene. Cole would return from Hogwarts just a few days earlier and she would also see Nicolai and Kagan again after a long time. Although her brothers got on her nerves sometimes, she was already looking forward to finally seeing them again.

A few days later, Marlene found herself and her family in the well-known estate. From the second they entered the house, Marlene kept her eyes open for Sirius in the hope of finding him as soon as possible. It didn’t take her long to discovered him and his family and to her surprise, not only he and his mother were there, but also his father and Regulus, who usually both stayed away from such events. Something in Sirius' face told her that he was not particularly pleased about this unusual situation, but his face brightened as soon as he saw Marlene. Only a few moments later he had apparently convinced his parents that it would not be a problem to leave them and Marlene also separated from her parents shortly afterwards, so that the two children wandered around the big house looking for a place where they would have their peace.

After having searched several rooms on the ground floor, they tried their luck on one of the upper floors and hurried up one of the large stone stairs. Contrary to the previous floor, absolutely nobody stayed here. They were just looking for the perfect room when they heard footsteps approaching. To avoid being caught by any adults and sent back to the other guests, the two of them entered the first room and found themselves in a comfortably furnished study. There were several armchairs, an overcrowded desk and the bookshelves were so full that there were already several stacks of books on the floor, on which the books just piled up. Marlene was about to take a closer look when Sirius suddenly started talking.

"I can't hear any more footsteps. Whoever was there is gone. Let's find another room, it's boring here."

"What if there is still someone out there? I don't want to go back yet. Let's just wait and see."

A little discontented Sirius agreed. He knew she was right, but he didn't want to wait any longer. To avoid boredom, he did the same as Marlene and looked for something interesting. While he was about to take a closer look at one of the shelves, he suddenly heard a loud clang behind him. Frightened, he turned around and saw Marlene jump back from the shards of a broken bottle.

"What did you do?"

"I just opened the compartment at the desk to see if there was anything in there and it fell out. What is that anyway," only now did she notice the acrid smell emanating from the liquid.

"I don't know what it’s called, I only know that my father drinks the stuff all the time and I should stay away from it," although he tried to make it sound as casually as possible, Marlene heard that something worried, maybe even frightened him. But she also knew that he didn't want to talk about it. But before she could say anything, she noticed something completely different. The liquid seemed to seep through the floor, as if there was some kind of cavity underneath. Apparently, Sirius had also noticed it and looked at Marlene questioningly, but she just shrugged her shoulders unsuspectingly. She took a closer look at the spot and discovered that one of the planks appeared to be loose. Careful not to injure herself by the broken pieces, she bent down and tried to lift the board. When Sirius realized what she was planning, he came to her immediate help. Together they removed the piece from the floor and discovered that other planks were loose too and had blocked the access to a narrow ladder. As soon as they had uncovered the entrance, Marlene wanted to go down when Sirius held her back.

"Do you think that's a good idea? We don't know what's down there."

"That's what's exciting. Come on, where's your sense of adventure?"

So Sirius gave in and followed her down the stairs into the unknown. With each step she took further down, it became darker and darker. Marlene was sure that they had to be far below the house and she could not see how far it went down until she suddenly felt solid ground under her feet. But apart from that, she had no orientation. The only light fell through the narrow opening through which they had risen, but it was barely enough to see their own hands. She tried to concentrate on recognizing something around her, but in vain. When she took a step aside, she hit something and almost scared herself to death until she realized that it was only Sirius who she had almost forgotten about.

He was apparently as frightened as she was and jumped to one side and hit the wall with his back. Suddenly, several torches lit up on the walls as if by magic. In the light of the burning torches it was finally possible for the two to perceive the room more precisely. On a large wooden table in the middle of the room stood a large rusty cauldron, as well as some small ampoules whose contents had partly leaked. Scattered on the floor lay several sheets printed with strange symbols or depicting horrible creatures. Everything was covered with a thick layer of dust and Marlene assumed that nobody must have been here for years.

"Where are we?" The question that had been whirring around Marlene's head since she entered the room came over her lips. She turned to Sirius, but he answered with nothing more than a simple shrug.

What felt like an eternity passed in which the two searched through the room piece by piece, hoping to find out something more precise. Unfortunately, their efforts were in vain, because no matter how hard they tried, they could not find an indication of what the room was all about. Of course, giving up was out of the question for them. So they returned to the old McKinnon estate even after the celebration was over on various occasions to find out more.

The only clue they had was some runes that kept reappearing: On one of the loose floorboards through which they had entered the room, on a wall, in almost every book in the room, and someone even seemed to have carved these runes into the wood of the old table. It was obvious that they stood for a word, but neither of the ten-year-olds could say what it meant.

Sirius was convinced that this must have been an incredibly powerful spell that was supposed to be kept here for posterity. Marlene, on the other hand, thought it was probably a clue that was part of a larger mystery that would eventually lead to a treasure. Even though they could not solve the mystery, the room offered them a place of refuge where they were undisturbed. And even after they gave up trying to find out what that rune meant, they kept coming back. 


	3. Chapter 3

There were people all over the platform. In their hands they held cages with owls, carried cats around or tried to put their toads safely in their jacket pockets. Behind them they pulled their trunks full of everything they would need for their next school year. People were crying everywhere, some students who were afraid of their first year at Hogwarts, and some parents who were already missing their children. But among all the joyful greetings and friends who had not seen each other for a long time hugging each other, they were hardly noticeable.

Between all these people a small group of three tried to make their way to the train. Mrs. McKinnon went ahead, not showing how stressed she was on the outside. She held her daughter by her hand and pulled her behind her. Only a few steps away from them followed Marlene's brother Cole, who looked rather bored.

For him none of this was new anymore, as this was his last year at Hogwarts. His sister, on the other hand, couldn't get out of astonishment. Year after year she had watched her siblings leave on their way to school. Year after year, she was spellbound by their lips as they spoke of the spells they had learned, the magical creatures hanging around the edge of the forbidden forest, and of course all the rumors about the castle, the students, teachers and employees. After all these years, the idea of finally being able to attend the school of witchcraft and wizardry herself filled her with great anticipation.

She looked around the crowd excitedly, hoping to see a familiar face. But because of the crowd it was almost impossible to find anyone, even when she stood on her toes and tried to stretch as far as possible, she could not find anyone because of the many adults. The fact that her mother dragged her further and further behind her also did not help much in her search.

When they finally stood right in front of the train, Marlene suddenly heard someone shouting her name. She turned and realized that it was Sirius running excitedly in her direction. A smile spread onto Marlene's face and she was about to greet Sirius, but her mother spoke first.

"Hello Sirius, where are your parents?"

"Father didn't come along and Mother has already gone back home with Regulus," he looked away from Mrs. McKinnon and instead turned his attention to Marlene, "Shall we go in?"

Marlene immediately agreed. With the help of her mother, she stowed her luggage in the train and then turned back to her to hug her and say goodbye to her. After that she looked around for Cole, but he had apparently already gone to his friends and had looked for a compartment with them.

With Sirius by her side, she entered the train and the two set out searching for a compartment. Fortunately, most of the students were still on the platform and said goodbye to their parents, so they did not have to search for long. The first two compartments were occupied, but the next one was still completely empty and the two quickly took their seats.

"Are you as excited as I am? I can't wait for the sorting ceremony. Which house do you think we're going to get sorted into?" the blonde was so excited that she could hardly sit still and really had to pull herself together to stop asking a lot of questions to let Sirius answer.

"Of course I'm excited, but certainly not because of this stupid sorting ceremony. We both know which house I'm going to get. My whole family was in Slytherin, why should it be any different with me? And even if I get sorted into a different house, can you imagine how they would react? I don't even want to think about how angry mother would be.” For a moment everything went quiet. It was clear that the whole thing was not exactly his favourite topic and Marlene could easily understand why.

She was familiar with the attitude of the Black’s and most other pure-blooded wizard families towards the other houses. And even though her family did not see the whole thing as strictly as most other families, Slytherin was also the preferred house in her family. Her two parents got sorted into Slytherin when they went to Hogwarts and had actually expected that the same would also apply to their children. But when Nicolai got into Ravenclaw and Iliana into Hufflepuff, they reconsidered this view. Even though both were visibly relieved when Kagan and Cole got into Slytherin.

When after a while neither of them said anything, Sirius attempted to change the topic: "Did you hear that this year-"

But before he could finish his sentence, someone suddenly opened the door to their compartment. When Marlene looked at the person, she realized that the second year with short black hair in front of her was her cousin Mireya.

"Marlene, there you are. I've been looking for you all over the platform. When I met Aunt Orlena, she said you had already got in. "Come with me, we're all sitting in the back and I really need to introduce you to someone."

With these words she grabbed Marlene by the arm and tried to pull her along, but she stopped to turn to Sirius.

"Are you coming?"

"I-" but before he could answer, Mireya interrupted him for the second time.

"He doesn't need to come. Believe me, he wouldn’t fit in anyway."

Marlene wanted to protest, but Sirius spoke first: "It's all right. I'll find someone else. You can come later," with these words he left the compartment in one direction, while Marlene was pulled by her cousin in the other.

It felt like an eternity until Marlene finally got rid of her cousin and her, as it turned out, super annoying friends and tried to find Sirius in one of the compartments. The train had already left over an hour ago and through the windows Marlene saw a wide variety of cities and landscapes that seemed to race past her.

As she walked down the floor and looked out one of the windows, she suddenly walked into someone and fell to the floor. She looked up to see who she had run into. Opposite to her was a girl, probably the same age as she, with long red hair. She stood up and reached out her hand to the girl. While helping her get up, she apologized to her.

"I'm really sorry. I wasn't paying attention where I was going."

"It's all right, I could have been more careful too," the redhead smiled at her. "I'm Lily, by the way. And you?"

"Marlene McKinnon."

"Do you want to join me and my friend Severus?"

"I'd love to, but I'm actually looking for my friend, I'm sure I'll see you at Hogwarts," Marlene went looking for Sirius again and found him soon after. She spent the rest of the train ride with him and James, the boy who Sirius apparently just befriended.

When they finally arrived at Hogwarts, the first graders lined up in front of the Great Hall like Professor McGonagall had instructed them to do. The doors opened and the students followed her into the hall. Marlene tried to catch a glimpse of the Slytherin table hoping to see her brother there. Although she saw some familiar faces there, she couldn't see Cole anywhere. So she turned her attention to Professor Dumbledore, who just begun welcoming the new students.

Marlene barely heard what he said. Her eyes were focussed on the Sorting Hat lying on a chair next to Professor McGonagall. The woman picked it up and stepped forward. "The Sorting Hat will now assign you to your houses. I will call you forward in turn."

The first students went forward and distributed themselves between Slytherin and Hufflepuff.

"Black, Sirius."

Marlene’s gaze met Sirius’ before McGonagall put the Sorting Hat that covered his eyes onto his head. Then there was silence. When after one minute still nothing had happened, Marlene could already hear the first students whisper. With every minute that passed the whispering became louder and the glances became more curious. After eight minutes, the hat finally shouted: "GRYFFINDOR!"

Marlene was surprised, but had to admit that this was not entirely unsubstantiated. Sirius was apparently astonished, or rather shocked. For a moment he remained seated and only when McGonagall gave him a light nudge he got up and headed towards the Gryffindor table. The girl, Lily, whom she had bumped into on the train, also got into Gryffindor. When McGonagall finally called out "McKinnon, Marlene," she rushed forward so quickly that she almost tripped. As soon as the hat slipped over her eyes she could already hear its voice.

"Interesting. I see a lot of adventurousness and a sharp tongue. She's got brains too. Hmmm... And she is loyalalso… I think… GRYFFINDOR!"

Smiling Marlene jumped off the stool and set off towards the cheering Gryffindors. She sat next to Sirius, who smiled at her. He was still in disbelief by what had just happened, but the fact that his best friend was in the same house as he was made up for it. At least for now.


	4. Chapter 4

A thick layer of snow had been covering the McKinnon estate for days. The cold was almost unbearable and Marlene had hardly left the house lately. Instead she sat on one of the armchairs in front of the large fireplace, wrapped in a thick blanket, a pen and drawing pad in her hand. Although it became annoying not to be able to leave the house with time, the snow had an incredibly inspiring effect on Marlene. Her room had been transformed into a chaos of paint and paper. Initially she wanted to use the Christmas holidays to concentrate on her upcoming OWLs, but so far she had been much more focussed on her art.

She would have been able to sit there for hours and draw, but suddenly she heard a strange noise. As she turned to the large glass window behind her, she discovered a little barn owl, hooking its beak against the window there. Marlene stood up to open the window and the little bird immediately flew into the room to warm itself by the hot flames of the fireplace. As it flew in, a letter dropped on the table.

At first, Marlene thought it was a letter from her girlfriend Olivia. The two had been a couple for over three months now and had been writing each other almost every day since the beginning of the holidays. Marlene missed her, but so far she had not been able to visit Olivia. Her parents weren't quite as narrow-minded about friendship with muggleborns, but Marlene was sure they wouldn't approve of a serious relationship between her daughter and a muggleborn.

The blonde picked up the letter and opened the envelope addressed to her, but realized to her surprise that it wasn't from Olivia.

_SOS_

_It's about Sirius. Come here immediately._

_James_

For a moment Marlene stared shocked and wondered at the short lines in front of her. But then she pulled herself together and hurried into the adjoining room without further ado to fetch the bowl of floo powder. She took out a handful of it, stepped up to the fireplace and spoke loudly and clearly the address of the Potters. The next moment she was surrounded by flames, but they disappeared again when she found herself in the Potter families living room. She opened her eyes, which she had closed because of the soot, and saw that Euphemia Potter was standing right in front of her. Even before Marlene could ask her about James or Sirius, she began to speak.

"The two boys are in James' room. You should go upstairs. Sirius will certainly need you now."

As Marlene climbed up the stairs, her thoughts revolved only around Sirius. What had happened? Was he injured? Why was he here? She had assumed that he had gone home for the holidays. He hadn't been very happy about it, but Marlene knew that his parents wanted him home this year, for whatever reason. Did it have anything to do with that? What was going on?

Without knocking she opened the door and entered. The two boys sat on James' bed and looked up as the door suddenly blew open. James greeted Marlene with a narrow smile, but when he turned back to Sirius, she could see the concern in his eyes. Sirius, on the other hand, seemed to show no emotion at all. He sat motionless and his eyes were completely expressionless. In all the years they had known each other, Marlene had never seen him like that before.

She looked at James completely helplessly, hoping that he would explain to her what was going on. "We'll be right back," he said to Sirius, then led Marlene out of the room into the hallway.

"Could you please explain to me what exactly is going on here?"

"Half an hour ago Sirius suddenly showed up, bleeding and stammering that he had run away from home. Mum gave him something to heal the wounds, but I have no idea what exactly happened there. I know that his family is crazy, but I never expected that to happen. You know his family better than I do, I thought he might talk to you about it."

Marlene didn't know what to say. She never envisaged this, neither had James. She was quite aware that Sirius had some problems at home and knew the views of his parents, but she also knew Sirius. And Sirius would never have just run away because of a simple quarrel and surely he would not have left Regulus there. So whatever happened there at Grimmauld Place what must have been terrible.

"I'll talk to him, but please leave us alone for now. I know he's your best friend, but I think he needs rest now and too many people at once would probably just be too much for him at the moment.”

"That's what I think too and why I've only told you so far. But all right, just promise me that you will let me know if I can help somehow."

"Promise."

So Marlene entered the room again and sat down next to Sirius. Carefully she tried to put her hand on his shoulder, but he flinched at the touch. For a moment the facade seemed to fall and fear flickered in his eyes. It broke Marlene's heart to see him like that. She wanted to help him, to free him from whatever was bothering him, but she didn't know how.

"Sirius.” Her voice was quiet, almost a whisper, as if she was afraid to hurt him if she spoke too loudly. But he showed no reaction, as if he hadn't heard her, "Sirius, I want to help you. Please tell me what happened.”

"I can't,” his voice trembled. Marlene felt like he was about to collapse if he continued speaking. "Sirius, please look at me.” To her own amazement he actually did and Marlene could now see the deep pain in his eyes very clearly. She had to pull herself together not to show him how much seeing him like this hurt her too.

"James told me that you ran away from home, Sirius.” Hearing the word 'home' his whole body seemed to tense up, but otherwise he showed no reaction, “I've known you almost all my life now and I've never saw you like this before. You have told me yourself what you had to endured there so far, so if you have actually run away from there, then something very bad must have happened. I see the pain in your eyes and it breaks my heart because you are my best and oldest friend and seeing you like this is unbearable. I will always be there for you, but please talk to me so that I can help you."

As soon as she had finished speaking, Sirius suddenly collapsed. As if out of reflex, Marlene's arms closed around him. His head laid on her shoulder and tears began to flow down his cheeks as he sobbed. Marlene tried to calm him down, stroked her hand over his head, and kept telling him that everything was going to be fine. The two sat there for an eternity until Sirius suddenly stopped sobbing and spoke.

"Promise me that you won't tell anyone if I tell you. I will tell the others myself when I am ready, but you must keep it secret until then. Do you promise me that?" He looked Marlene firmly in the eye.

Without hesitation she began to nod, "Of course. I promise you."

It seemed to cost him an incredibly great overcoming, but he took a deep breath and tried to grasp himself before he spoke. "Do you remember the letter I received from my parents before the holidays? They really wanted me to come home because they supposedly had something important to discuss with me. Tonight they wanted me to sit down with them to talk about it. They started to talk about Andromeda and what a disgrace she was to the family, what kind of contact she had. At first I didn't understand what should be so important about it, they often enough get upset about her. But then they came to the conclusion that I didn't have the best environment in Hogwarts either. They said that they would no longer approve of something like this, and I guess I lost my temper a bit."

"And that's why you ran away?"

"No, it got much worse. I argued quite fiercely with them and then they told me what the real reason behind all this theatre was." He took a short break, closed his eyes and breathed in for a long time to calm his trembling body again. Perhaps also to take the strength necessary to say the following out loud, "They want me to join You-Know-Who."

Marlene’s jaw dropped. She didn't know what to expect, but she certainly hadn't expected that. At first she didn't know what to say, but when she saw Sirius' eyes, the words suddenly seemed to come out by themselves.

"That was incredibly brave of you. I don't know how I would have reacted in your place or if I would have had the courage to stand up against my family, but there’s one thing I can tell you. Your decision was exactly the right one and I am proud of you.” For a second, something like a little smile actually appeared on Sirius' face.

Marlene spent the rest of the evening with the Potters. She also got to see the wound that ran across Sirius' back that evening. Apparently Walburga couldn't let her son go without giving him a parting gift. James joined the two again and the three spent the evening trying to get Sirius to think about something else. When Sirius left the room for a moment James asked Marlene what had happened, but she kept her promise and didn't say a word.


	5. Chapter 5

The rest of the holidays flew by. Marlene spent as much time as possible with the Potters to make sure that Sirius was all right. Her parents, however, continued to disapprove more and more. The news that Sirius had turned his back on his family spread like wildfire among the pureblooded wizard families. Even though Mr. and Mrs. McKinnon knew how much her friendship with Sirius meant to their daughter, they preferred not to associate their family's name with a blood traitor. But by the time the holidays were over and the two were back in the Hogwarts Express, her family couldn't do anything to stop Marlene from doing what she thought was right.

After Marlene had spent hours in the library again one evening, she let herself fall into her bed in the girls' dorm room, completely exhausted, and left out a loud moan. Lily and Dorcas, both bent over a book up to this point, exchanged a quick glance and then turned to their annoyed friend, who now apparently needed their help. Although Marlene tended to overdramatize things from time to time, her friends were now pretty good at recognizing when it was something more serious.

"Well then, go ahead. What happened?" Dorcas looked at her friend expectantly. But she just murmured something into her pillow.

"Marlene..."

"It's nothing." The blonde sat up, "I'm just tired after all the studying, that's all."

"Come on. We all know that that's not true," Mary, who had been in the bathroom until then, also spoke up. Marlene let out a small sigh. Sometimes she wasn't sure whether it was an advantage or a disadvantage that her friends knew her so well.

"It's just… It's Sirius." The reaction of the other girls was pretty clear. Lily wasn't a very big fan of Sirius and his friendship with James, let alone the way they treated Severus. The other girls also understood how important her friendship with Sirius was for Marlene, but they didn't really get along with him either.

"What exactly did he do?” Although Lily didn't like him very much, Marlene was very important to her, and if he had done something to hurt her, that was just one more reason not to like him.

"Nothing and that's the problem. He's been ignoring me for days now. After class he disappears before I can talk to him, in our free time he avoids me and when I catch him he always finds an excuse why he can't talk to me right now. When I saw him in the library earlier, I wanted to try to talk to him again and what is he doing? He turns around when he sees me and walks away, as if he were running away from me. I mean, what's his problem anyway?"

"Maybe it has something to do with what happened at home? The whole thing with his family certainly must have been hard for him," Mary thought. Rumours had also spread in Hogwarts about what had happened to Sirius, and since then Marlene had been constantly asked by strangers for the details.

"But he had already talked to me about it. I know more than the others anyway. If it were really that, wouldn't he want to talk to me?"

"I don’t know. Maybe it's something completely different. Just give him a little time. Probably he'll soon start talking to you all by himself again and all your worry will be for nothing," Lily smiled encouragingly at Marlene in the hope that what she said was actually true and that everything between the two would soon behave as usual again.

"You're probably right," Marlene started nodding and her face brightened a little, "Probably he really just needs a little time and it's alright, actually."

The girls sat together for a while and tried to get other thoughts. After a while Marlene left the group to meet Olivia. On her way to the castle grounds she continued trying not to think of Sirius, but his strange behaviour of the last days just wouldn't get out of her mind. However, her dark thoughts brightened immediately as she saw Olivia sitting on the grass near the lake and the blonde couldn't help but smile.

Olivia sat there with her back facing Marlene so when she touched her shoulders, she shrugged briefly in shock. As she turned around to see who was standing behind her, Marlene took the opportunity and gave her girlfriend a long intense kiss on the lips. When they broke the kiss, Olivia couldn't help but smile too.

"I almost thought you weren't coming anymore."

"I'm sorry, the other girls and I were so busy that I completely forgot the time. But don't worry, all my attention is now yours," Marlene actually intended to keep what she had said, but her thoughts kept wandering to Sirius. She seemed to be absent from time to time and hardly seemed to listen to her girlfriend and so Olivia noticed pretty quickly that something was wrong.

"Honey, is everything okay with you? I have a feeling that something is bothering you."

"Yes, everything okay. Just a little something, nothing important."

"Marlene."

"Why is everyone so keen on talking about it today? Lily and the others didn't want to give it a rest either," she hoped for a moment that that would be enough, but Olivia's gaze told her that she wouldn't give any rest, so she started telling for the second time that day, "Sirius has been avoiding me for some time now and that gives me a hard time.”

To Marlene's wonder, Olivia gave an annoyed groan. "I should have known. Whenever there's something wrong, it's always Sirius."

"That's not true at all!"

"Of course. How many times were we supposed to meet and you couldn't come because he needed something from you? You spend more time with him than with me and now it's even about him while we see each other," Olivia became more and more angry and sat opposite Marlene with her arms crossed.

"He is one of my best friends. Is it already a problem when I worry about my friends?"

"You should stop lying to yourself and admit that maybe he is more than just a friend after all. But as long as you are not aware of this yourself, please just do me a favour and stay away from me. Because I really don't feel like getting my hopes up every day that we'll be okay, just so that one day you'll suddenly realize that Sirius isn't just a friend to you."

With these words she stood up and marched quickly towards the castle. Her words had upset Marlene so much that she didn't know what to say in return. She wanted to run after Olivia and explain to her that there would never be anything happening between her and Sirius, but instead remained seated. She didn't know exactly what it was, but something held her back.

When Olivia claimed that there was more between the two, Marlene's first instinct was to deny everything. If she had to explain to someone what kind of relationship she had with Sirius, she would have described him as her oldest friend, someone who was almost a brother to her. Someone she trusted, but she had never thought that there could have been more than just friendship between the two of them.

_Loud music penetrated from the common room to the dormitories. Gryffindor had won the Quidditch game against Ravenclaw a few hours ago and was now in first place. The mood in the whole tower was accordingly excited. Everywhere students danced and celebrated while congratulating the players._

_This had been James' first Quidditch game at Hogwarts and all evening he had been intoxicated with the adrenaline and happiness. His friends of course shared his joy and celebrated with the rest of their house in the common room._

_Sometime during the evening, the small group had decided to leave the main celebration and instead play a round of truth or dare with some other classmates in the dormitory of the four boys. Marlene needed some persuasion to get Lily to join them, but even though she preferred to avoid the company of James, she agreed because of the joy of the previous victory._

_And so it came to pass that in one of the boys' dormitories the Marauders, Marlene, Lily, Dorcas, Mary, Emmeline, as well as some other third year Gryffindors were sitting on the floor. James had been dared to imitate Professor McGonagall and the others could not stop laughing at his performance. When he was done, he sat down again with his laughing friends and turned the bottle that pointed to Marlene._

_"McKinnon, truth or dare?"_

_"Dare."_

_A grin spread to James's face._

_"Turn the bottle and kiss the person it points to."_

_For a second she hesitated. She had imagined her first kiss differently, but she didn't want to admit it. So she took the bottle and turned it around. It turned and turned. Then it slowed down until it stopped completely. She looked from the bottle to Sirius, to whom it pointed. Next to him James crouched laughing and hit his friend on the shoulder._

_Marlene took a deep breath. It was definitely too late to pinch. So she slipped closer to Sirius until she sat directly opposite him. He could probably see how nervous she was, so he smiled at her. Hesitantly she laid her hands on your shoulders. Next to her she heard the giggling of her friends. She could feel how she turned red and tried compulsively not to pay attention to the looks of the others._

_Slowly the heads of the two approached. Shortly before her lips touched Marlene closed her eyes. As soon as that had happened she felt Sirius' lips against her own. The touch was gentle and timid and yet Marlene felt a tingling sensation in her stomach. Even when the two of them finished the kiss after only a few seconds Marlene felt this unusual new feeling._

The memory suddenly reappeared out of nowhere. It was as if it had hidden itself all these years in the furthest corner of Marlene's mind just to be able to make a big performance now. Why did she only have to think about it now of all times?

Marlene was aware that maybe her 13-year-old self at that time had really believed that this tingling would mean something, but now she was older and knew that this was not the case. Sirius had always been only a friend to her and would always remain so. She was absolutely sure about that.


	6. Chapter 6

Marlene still couldn't believe that Olivia had broken up with her. But even more incredible was that she had done so because she thought Marlene had feelings for Sirius. How did she come up with such a stupid idea? And why did Marlene remember this insignificant memory right now?

She was already on the stairs to the Gryffindor Tower when she realized that the other girls would surely want to know what had happened if she went back to the' dormitory. But Marlene didn't want to talk about this at all. Not about the breakup with Olivia, nor her reason for it.

So she decided to walk through the castle for a while and only return when she could be sure that the others were already asleep. She had done this many times before and therefore knew her way around the castle well and knew how not to get caught by Filch or one of the teachers.

Outside the sun had set a long time ago and it was getting colder and colder. Once she couldn't stand it any longer, Marlene hurried back to the Gryffidor tower hoping the others would already be fast asleep. Arriving there she found an empty common room and so decided to stay there for a while to be certain that she would not meet the others.

She sat down on one of the couches and stared into the flames of the fireplace. Normally the common room was always filled with people and it was never quiet. But now there was a deafening silence that was unbearable for Marlene. She was all alone with her thoughts revolving around Olivia.

For the first time that evening, Marlene seemed to realize what had just happened and what it meant for the future. Because no matter what Olivia thought, she was incredibly important to her. Especially since Marlene rarely felt so close to a person as she did with Olivia. Without wanting it, tears began to flow down Marlene's cheeks.

Her arms embraced her legs and her head rested on her knees. She didn't know how long she was sitting like that, but she would have stayed there sitting like that forever if she hadn't heard the portrait entrance open behind her. As she turned around, she discovered Sirius who had frozen at the sight.

"Oh, great. Just what I needed right now," Marlene turned back, annoyed, and assumed that he would disappear again, as he had been doing for days. To her own surprise however, he replied. "What happened to you? You look terrible."

"Thank you, Sirius. Charming as always".

"I’m not joking. What happened?

Marlene could feel the rage boiling inside of her. Was he serious? Did he really think that everything was okay between the two of them?

"Why do you care at all? Lately you didn’t seem to care about me anyway."

Astonished, he started at her, he hadn't expected that. Instead of waiting for an answer Marlene got up and attempted to finally go to her room. She had already arrived at the base of the stairs when she heard Sirius again.

"I am sorry. I do care about you and you know that damn well."

"Is that so?" Marlene turned suddenly around, "Why have you been ignoring me for days, disappearing as soon as you saw me and can't even talk to me normally?" Her voice became louder and louder and her eyes sparkled angrily at Sirius.

"I… I can't tell you that, but believe me, it certainly has nothing to do with the fact that I don't care about you. It’s the exact opposite, the fact that I cannot tell you is because you are one of the most important people in my life. I really didn't want to hurt your feelings at all, so please accept my apologies."

For a moment she hesitated. A small part of her was still angry and she wanted answers. Answers that he obviously didn't want to give her. What did he hide from her? He had told her about his parents and why he had to run away from there, so why couldn't he answer her this simple question now? But she could see that he was serious. His words were sincere and Marlene felt that any second she hesitated caused him pain.

"Apology accepted." Sirius began to smile, but before he could say anything she continued, "But that doesn't mean I'm not still angry with you. I really hope at some point you'll tell me why you’ve been ignored me."

"Maybe at some point, but before that happens you have to tell me why you're sitting here in the middle of the night crying your eyes out.”

Before she answered, Marlene went back to the couch and indicated to Sirius that he should sit next to her.

"Olivia broke up with me."

"She's a bitch," the next second he felt Marlene's fist boxing against his arm.

"Don't call her that."

"She broke up with you, and you’re sitting here alone in the common room crying because of her. In other words, she hurt you. So she's a bitch."

"No, she's not. Now stop it."

"Okay, I'm sorry. Did she say why she was breaking up?"

Marlene was afraid of that question. Should she tell him the truth? She didn't want him to feel responsible for her breakup. Or worse, for him to believe that she had feelings for him. On the other hand, he had always told her everything. At least until now and if he now had secrets, she could do that too. But more secrets would perhaps lead to more misunderstandings between the two and she wanted to prevent that in any case.

"Because of you.” Sirius' facial expression told Marlene that this answer was extremely confusing to him, so she went on. “She thinks I have feelings for you, which I obviously don't have, because we seemingly spend so much time together. And I supposedly ditched her a few times because of you.”

Speaking it out made the whole thing even more incomprehensible for Marlene. It was all so absurd that Marlene couldn't help but laugh. But she felt the pain in her chest getting stronger again. After just a few moments her laughter became more desperate, until it finally turned into sobbing and tears covered her face again. As she buried her face in her hands, she felt an arm gently wrapping around her shoulders.

"I'm sorry.” His voice sounded upright and he carefully stroke Marlene’s arm with his hand. As he did so, she turned so that her face now leaned against his chest and he could also wrap his second arm around her. His hand slowly stroked over her head as he repeated how sorry he was multiple times.

It was strange, just a few minutes before Marlene was still incredibly angry at Sirius and had wished she never had to see him again. Now she couldn't imagine anyone she'd rather have around. At some point Marlene stopped crying and sat up again.

"It is not your fault. I don't know why Olivia thinks there's more than friendship between us but she does and she won't believe me that she's wrong. So can we please talk about something else now? Otherwise I'll just start crying again."

Sirius looked at Marlene insistently. Her eyes were red and swollen from crying, her cheeks were wet and full of smeared mascara and her whole body was still trembling. Even though he had the feeling that the two should talk about it again, he knew that this would certainly not be the right moment. So he agreed with her nodding slightly.

"Great, then you can tell me what you're doing here in the middle of the night."

Sirius took a deep breath and looked at her for a moment before hesitantly answering. "How angry would you be at me if I told you that I couldn't tell you that either?”

"Very angry."

"I'm sorry, Leeny, but this isn't just about me. Maybe I can explain it to you later, but I can't make this decision alone. Let's just say that I had to help a friend, okay?"

"All right," Marlene rolled her eyes annoyed. She hated that he kept so much secret from her lately, even though she was always so honest with him. But as irritated as she was, she didn't want to risk her and Sirius arguing again, "I just wish things were as simple as they used to be. No secrets from each other, no relationship stress and less family drama."

"You're right. Wouldn't it be nice just to be able to go back to this little secret room where we always hid as children?” The thought of it made Sirius laugh a little and Marlene couldn't hold back a grin either while she remembered those beautiful moments of her childhood.

"Yes, back when all we cared about was finding out what was with that room.” Marlene joined in on Sirius’ laugh now. For that moment her worries were blown away and instead she was filled with nostalgic childhood memories.

"I wish we had found out more. Who knows, maybe we'll learn more now. There are thousands of books in the library, maybe there's something in one of them about those mysterious runes."

"I have already tried that. Right after I had chosen Study of Ancient Runes I searched every book Professor Babbling gave us, unfortunately without success. That made me so curious that I also searched the books in the library, but I didn't find anything. In the end I even drew the runes and showed them to her, but she said that although she could decipher which letters the runes represented, the whole thing didn't result in a word that she knew."

"Too bad and very strange," Sirius frowned, "How can it be that no one has any idea what this is all about?

"I don't know, but as long as we don't have an answer to it, I see it simply as a sign of our friendship and a reminder of the good times of my childhood.”

"Sounds good and how much more beautiful this time would have been had it not been for our parents," Sirius grimaced. The thought of his family obviously caused him bad memories, which he tried to repress. Marlene could see his chest beginning to lift and fall more quickly.

"Sirius, everything is fine. You never have to see them again.” Marlene's voice was quiet and as she spoke she took Sirius' hand in her own.

"I know. It's just... Sometimes I just can't- It's as if…” While he tried to explain it to her, he kept driving his hand through his hair, a habit he must have copied from James.

"You don't have to explain it. You are now free of them and can do whatever you want. Just don't give them control over you," she gave him a warm smile and in his eyes she actually recognized gratitude. Suddenly Marlene jumped up, which made Sirius flinch momentarily, "I have an idea!"

She quickly went to her bag, which she had only carelessly thrown on the floor when she had entered the common room, and looked for something in it. Shortly thereafter she seemed to have found what she had been looking for and pulled out a quill and a glass of black, strangely shimmering ink. She put the bag back and sat next to Sirius.

"You always said you wanted a tattoo, but that your parents would never allow you to have one, right?" Sirius confusedly agreed and waited for her to keep talking, "That's permanent ink. It's impossible to ever wash it off again or get rid of it in any way. If you still want a tattoo, I can draw you one now."

"Leeny, believe me, I'd love for you to draw my first tattoo, but I don't even know what exactly I want."

"Do you trust me enough to let me choose?" For a few seconds there was complete silence. Marlene thought Sirius would refuse, after all it was an important permanent decision and she didn't know how she would have answered in his place. But then, without thinking any longer about it, Sirius suddenly said, "Yes, yes. I trust you on that."

"Really?” A smile spread all over Marlene's face, "That's great. Shirt off."

"What?”

"Take off your shirt. If I can choose the tattoo, I can also choose the spot and I want to draw it on your back, so you should get rid of your shirt as soon as possible."

"Oh, of course. Do you want me to just rip it off my body or should I put on a little show before I do so?" He winked slightly at her and she couldn't help but start laughing loudly, forgetting her grief from earlier.

"I'd love to see that, but I think it'll be easier if you just take off your shirt."

"All right, but believe me you're missing out," with these words he took it off and sat down with his back to Marlene. Only at that moment did she realize what muscular shoulders Sirius had. She had noticed before that her best friend was quite well built. But now that he was sitting so uncovered in front of her, she could see the contours of each muscle very closely. For a moment Marlene was so busy with staring that she completely forgot what she actually wanted to do. A moment passed and she got hold of herself. Very carefully she dipped her quill into the ink and cautiously drew the first stroke, refusing to make any mistake.

Minutes later Sirius was surprised when Marlene announced that she was finished. Apparently she had chosen a very small tattoo or one without many details, because she was finished much faster than expected. With a small wave of her wand, Marlene made a mirror appear, so that Sirius only had to turn his head slightly to look at it. When he saw it, he couldn't help but start to grin. His left shoulder blade was now adorned by those same runes the two had talked about only a few minutes before.


	7. Chapter 7

Marlene was glad that she and Sirius could now be so honest with each other again. But just because things were back to the way they used to be, it didn't mean she was feeling any better. The breakup with Olivia was still very hard for her and although Sirius was a great help, he couldn't completely take her pain away.

It was Lily who saw that the two bottles of fire whisky Marlene secretly hid under her bed were emptying faster and faster. Dorcas noticed that her friend was finding it harder and harder to concentrate during class. Mary found Marlene crying on the bathroom floor more than once, sobbing about how much she hated herself. The fact that the blonde spent more and more nights not in her own bed and did not return until late in the morning did not go unnoticed for long either. Her friends knew they had to help Marlene, but unfortunately none of them knew how exactly to do it, as Marlene vehemently refused to talk about the subject. And even before any of them had the opportunity to do anything, the summer holidays came and they were all on their way back home.

* * *

"HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO ME? OR NICOLAI? HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO ANY OF US? YOU DESTROYED THIS FAMILY!"

"DON'T PRETEND IT'S ALL MY FAULT, PRETENDING AS IF YOU'RE PERFECT!"

"YOU DON'T EVEN DENY IT! DON'T EVEN ADMIT THAT IT WAS A MISTAKE!"

"BECAUSE IT WAS NO MISTAKE! AND DO YOU KNOW WHAT; YOU CRAZY BITCH? I WOULD DO IT AGAIN ANY TIME!"

The loud screams of her parents had ripped Marlene from her sleep this morning. All Marlene heard next was a loud bang, as if someone got hit in the face, then footsteps that stomped away furiously, followed by doors that slammed and then nothing. Everything was quiet again. It seemed to her as if she had never experienced such a quiet silence before. The first and only thing she heard was her own heartbeat beating so fast, as if she had just ran for her life.

They were one floor down and yet Marlene heard their voices as clearly as if they were standing right next to her. She was completely shocked. What was going on here? She had already noticed yesterday that something was wrong between them. When she arrived in London with the Hogwarts Express, only her mother was there to take her home. Once there, she quickly noticed the impersonal mood between her parents. At first she didn’t think about it, but during the evening it seemed to her that her mother was trying to kill her father with her eyes. And now she was awakened so early by the loud quarrel between the two.

The question of what had happened kept her so busy that she got up and hurried down hoping to meet one of her parents there. In fact, she found her mother sitting on one of the armchairs, a glass of wine in her hand, staring into nowhere. But in the corner of her eye she seemed to have seen the movement of her daughter, who carefully entered the room.

"Mum, what happened?" she didn't even bother to ask if her mother was all right, because it was pretty obvious that this wasn't the case.

"And of course now I'm the one who has to tell her alone," she muttered before she put the glass on the small table next to her and then turned to her daughter to answer her question, "Your father and I are getting a divorce.”

Marlene stopped as if rooted to the spot. That her parents had problems was nothing new for her. Since she was a small child she had experienced it again and again how her parents argued terribly. It was not uncommon for her father to stay away from home for a few days or weeks, but usually everything returned to normal when he got back. Most of the time he came back with expensive gifts, as if hoping that Marlene and her brothers would forget what had happened. But not once did Marlene fear that her parents would get a divorce.

"Why? So far you've been getting along again and again. What happened now?” When Marlene heard her mother's words, she didn't know what to say at first. She stammered her questions rather than actually formulating a correct sentence.

"Because your father is a disgusting, deceitful, unfaithful bastard," she had expected a lot as answer to her question, but the fact that her mother was so direct shocked even Marlene herself. Nevertheless, this answer only raised further questions, but before she could ask them, she was interrupted by her mother, "I don't want to talk about it now. Go to your room or outside, I don't care, I just want to be alone now.”

A thousand questions were still buzzing through her head, but she knew it would be best to leave her mother alone. She walked up the stairs again into her room and quickly scribbled a few lines on a piece of paper that she put on her little tawny owl and then sent it to Sirius. Hastily she reached for some clean clothes and then went to the fireplace connected to the floo network. It was completely unthinkable for her to stay in this house now, so she climbed into the fireplace and shouted loudly and clearly ‘Diagon Alley’.

Marlene had been sitting in the small bar in Muggle London for almost three hours now when Sirius came in through the door and sat next to her. The two had noticed the previous summer that no one wanted to see their IDs here and so it came to pass that Marlene had got drunk there more than once. And now she sat there staring at the glass of vodka soda in her hand. She had no idea how many she already had now and by now she was drunk enough that she didn't care.

"Marls, what's going on? Your message only said that something bad had happened and that I should come here immediately," he looked at his friend worriedly and carefully took the glass out of her hand so that she turned her gaze away from it and looked at him instead.

"Dad cheated on Mum," Marlene started to laugh. Her voice clearly indicated that she had already drunk too much, "An- And now they're getting a divorce. But you know what? I'm fine. Nooooo reeeeally.”

"I don't believe that for a second. Now come on," he wrapped his arm around her waist and lifted her from the bar stool. The movement was probably too fast for Marlene, because if he hadn't supported her, she would certainly have fallen over, "You clearly already had too much. I'll take you home.”

"No, no, don’t," Marlene tried to squirm out of Sirius' grip, but lost her balance and stumbled against him, "I don't want to go back, it's so depressing there," as she spoke she made a face like a defiant child. "Besides, Mum doesn't want me there anyway," the last sentence was just whispered, as if she had said it more to herself than to Sirius, on which she was still leaning.

"All right, but you're definitely not staying here," he tightened his grip on the girl and pushed her toward the door. Once outside, he led her a few streets further until they stood in front of the door of the Leaky Cauldron. Sirius had thought they could have sat down there until Marlene's condition had improved somewhat, but as they stepped through the door, he unfortunately saw that the small pub was already completely to capacity. Hoping to find a quiet place somewhere, they made their way through the back door to the entrance to Diagon Alley.

* * *

Apparently many witches and wizards had decided to use the beginning of the holidays to spend a day in the Diagon Alley. Carefully the two tried to find a way through the crowd, but Sirius had to make sure that Marlene didn't run wherever she wanted. He kept his eyes open looking for a café to sit in when he suddenly saw something that made his blood freeze. Only a few steps away from them stood his mother.

He hadn't seen her since he had run away from home. He had received angry howlers from his mother the first few weeks, calling him a disgrace to the whole family and blood traitor and who repeatedly emphasized how much his mother regretted ever having born him. He knew that his parents must have been at the platform at the end of the school year to pick up Regulus, but luckily he hadn’t seen them there.

So far she had stood with her back to her two friends. If the two were just to turn around and walk back a bit, his mother wouldn't have a chance to see them, Sirius thought and wanted to get Marlene, who apparently hadn't noticed Walburga at all and was looking towards the Magic Menagerie instead, to turn around when she suddenly jumped up and down and pointed to the store.

"Sirius, look, they have bats. I really want a bat. Sirius? Sirius look. Are you listening to me? Hello? Sirius? Just look! Bats!" Marlene became so loud that the people around her began to stare at the two. Sirius tried to get her to shut up again, but it was already too late. His mother had probably noticed the charade and stared angrily at them. Even before Sirius had the chance to think about what to do next, his mother was already standing next to him. Her eyes sparkled hatefully down on him as her narrow mouth opened.

"Listen to me very carefully now, you filthy scum," her voice was so quiet that it was impossible for the surrounding passers-by to hear. Yet at that moment she seemed more threatening to Sirius than all the times she had yelled at him in rage. It was as if every one of her unusually controlled words would give him a painful sting, worse than any blow he had to endure. Every sentence left a trace, worse than any scar from his mother's curses. "I know you feel safe with your oh so beloved Potters, but I can promise you one thing. One day they will no longer be there to help you. None of those blood traitors and no disgusting mudblood either, just you all alone. And when the time comes, I promise you we will meet again and you will pay for defiling the name of my family."

Sirius just stood there completely motionless. He was usually self-confident and rarely showed that he was afraid, but his mother had always been his weak point. Ever since he was little, he knew he shouldn't mess with her. He wanted to move, open his mouth, yell at her, but he could not. It was as if her mere presence ensured that he stood there without moving, damned to stay quiet and not say a single word.

She had just turned away to leave when Sirius felt a movement behind his back. When his mother approached them, Sirius had probably subconsciously taken a step forward so that he had stood right in front of Marlene. But she didn't seem to be able to stand there any longer.

"You're a terriful...awerible…aweful human being," Marlene said as she turned around and scrutinized the blonde, who babbled as she spoke and staggered slightly back and forth, as if she were some annoying insect, "And you know what? It is certainly not Sirius who is once alone, but you! And then- and then one day, it will be you who dies lonely and alone with nothing and no one but your disgusting house elf."

"I see your parents still haven't taught you how to keep your mouth shut. I couldn't stand you from the first second I saw you, you cheeky, pert thing. No wonder your father always brags so much about your brothers. If you were my daughter, I would try anything to distract from your existence too. I just wonder what they think of their daughter walking around drunk and insulting friends of the family here in the middle of the day," she took a step forward and like a reflex Sirius pulled Marlene as close to his side as humanly possible. A sneering grin full of disgust appeared on Walburga's face, "How cute, you two really make an adorable couple. The outcast, shame bringing blood traitor and the drunken, cheap slut with no manners. What's wrong? Are you speechless because you thought no one would notice you whoring around?"

"That's enough!" this time it was Sirius who spoke. His inside was foaming with anger and it was as if he had to say everything he had never dared to say in the past years now, "I don't care what you think of me or what you say about me, but if you ever dare to insult any of my friends again or the idea of threatening any of them even crosses your mind, then I swear I will do something to you that is even worse than all the things you've ever done to me. And believe me, this is not a threat, this is a promise,” while he was talking, he stared her dead into her eyes and even if Marlene had never spoken it out loud, certainly not in Sirius' vicinity, she couldn't help but recognize Walburga's hateful look in Sirius’ eyes now.

"As you wish, you little rat," she gave Marlene one last despising look of hatred, "I hope she infects you with something that will kill you both painfully. Or maybe she will get pregnant, believe me, nothing ruins life more than children," with these words she turned around for good and disappeared into the crowd again.

* * *

"Are you sure that’s all?”

"Everything that I got out here.”

Sirius stared at the two bottles of fire whisky Marlene had just taken from their hiding place outside the McKinnon Manor. After meeting his mother, Sirius wanted to disappear as far as possible and so Marlene agreed to return back home if he promised her that they would only stay in the woods outside the house to avoid her parents.

Fortunately, Marlene had already hidden a few bottles of fire whisky there some time ago, fearing her parents might find them otherwise. Sirius opened one of them, took a strong sip and immediately made a face. Marlene looked at him worriedly. Even though her head was still addled by the alcohol and thinking was difficult for her, she knew that it meant no good when Sirius started drinking, because he usually didn't drink anything.

The fact that his father had been drinking ever since Sirius could remember had led to a strong dislike of alcohol from Sirius’ side. Seeing what became of his father when he drank, how he behaved, stopped Sirius from drinking himself and even when it was just a little bit. It was bad enough for him to see his friends get drunk, fearing that one of them would freak out like his father used to do.

But in some rare cases Marlene had already experienced Sirius drinking and in none of these situations was he feeling well. At the beginning of the school year, she found him drunk in one of the school corridors, after he had a rather violent quarrel with Regulus. A few days after he had run away from home and his mother's first howler had arrived, he asked James to take him somewhere to drink without Euphemia seeing him. And now this.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" she asked still concerned about him, as he took a second and immediately a third sip, grimacing again.

"And that’s coming from you. Tell me again who of us got drunk in the morning and still staggers around?” Marlene smiled only as an answer and then opened the second bottle to take a sip.

They wandered through the forest for a while until they came close to the lake where they had often swum as children. Marlene let herself fall on the grass before the shore and Sirius did the same. He was about to take another sip when he noticed that his bottle was already empty, but a quick glance towards Marlene was enough for her to hand him her bottle. She didn't know if she should say anything but somehow the silence between the two was quite comfortable. They just laid next to each other and stared into the sky. Sirius didn't know how long they had been there, but suddenly Marlene got up and took off her top.

"Not that I'm complaining or anything, but would you please explain to me what you're doing, Leeny?" he questioned pulled up an eyebrow and tried to look her in the face, but couldn't help but let his gaze wander over her body, from the tips of her blonde hair curling up on her shoulders, over her breasts covered only by a red bra, to her long legs on which her pair of shorts just glided down.

"What do you think? I want to go swimming. We've been in the sun forever now and it's much too hot for me. So are you coming with me now or do you just want to watch me?" Without even waiting for an answer, she turned around and walked towards the water. But before she actually plunged into the cool water, she reached behind her back again, opened her bra and carefully grazed the straps from her shoulders to let it fall into the grass next to her. Her panties also followed, so that she now slid into the water completely naked. Only when her body was completely covered with water did she turn back to Sirius.

Sirius hadn't moved from the spot all the time and just watched her. But now he also stood up and began to undress. His clothes quickly landed on the grass next to Marlene's clothes, so that he stood there only in boxer shorts. For a moment he hesitated, but then took them off and joined Marlene in the water.

He was trying to swim closer to her as she splashed a huge amount of water in his face. Marlene had to laugh so much at his bewildered face that she had to be careful not to go down. A grin also spread immediately on his face.

"Really, McKinnon? You want to play that game? So be it," with that he made a long swim strike and grabbed the still laughing blonde. The next minutes were filled with laughter and the loud splashing of water. It felt as if both had forgotten what had happened earlier that day. All they cared about at that moment was the other one. The fact that both were naked seemed to be completely forgotten too.

After receiving a particularly large load of water in her face, Marlene wanted to take revenge by trying to push Sirius underwater. He successfully held her back, however, and Marlene's legs ended up tightly wrapped around Sirius' torso, her left arm wrapped around his neck, and her right hand as support on his shoulder. His arm, on the other hand, embraced her waist and the other hand rested on the underside of her thigh.

Suddenly they stopped laughing and tried not to squirm out of each other's grip anymore. Instead they just looked at each other. Without thinking, the two closed their eyes and Marlene bent down to Sirius.

Their kiss was hesitant at first, as if both were afraid of what would happen if they broke the kiss. His soft lips brushed hers gently and Marlene wished this feeling would never end. She detached her hand from his shoulder and instead drove it through his long dark hair. He also moved his hand and she felt it slide from her thigh to her butt. As a reaction, she wrapped her legs even tighter around him and pressed the rest of herself against his body.

But she wasn't the only one looking for more closeness. The feeling of his wet tongue against her lip caused her to immediately open her mouth to allow him to enter. As his tongue touched hers, she let out a little moan that was immediately silenced by the kiss. Her hand grasped the bundle of hair she had just played with tighter and pulled it slightly.

Suddenly Sirius broke the kiss. Marlene opened her eyes in surprise and was about to complain why on earth he stopped right now when he attached his lips to her neck and started sucking on the fine skin there. He left a trail of wet kisses on her neck and although it was hard for Marlene to think at that moment, she was sure she would see traces of it the next morning.

As he kissed her sweet spot and began to suck on it slowly and then more and more, Marlene couldn't help but throw her head back and groan loudly without being silenced by a kiss this time. Sirius noticed the effect he had on Marlene and began to suck even harder as one of his hands reached up to squeeze her breast. One moan followed the next and Marlene's nails scratched deep over Sirius's back. As she did, she felt his erection against her thigh. Marlene took Sirius' face in her hands and kissed him again.

All of a sudden she let go of him, untangled her legs from his body and swam back towards the grass. Halfway she turned around to him again and bit her lower lip slightly. With a slight nod and a wink, she silently asked him to follow her.

Back out of the water she sat down on the grass to wait until Sirius was with her, but as soon as she had turned around he stood right in front of her and bent down to her for a kiss. His hands embraced her hips and his chest was pressed tight against hers. The weight pushed her back, so that shortly afterwards she laid with her back on the grass, him bending over her.

His hands slowly began to caress her whole body without breaking the kiss. They gently wandered along her side, making their way to her thighs. As his thumb stroked over the inside of her thigh, she couldn't help but spread her legs wide, believing he was about to enter her. Instead, she only felt his grin against her lips, followed by a little giggle as he stopped kissing her.

"Not so impatient, Marls," she was about to protest as he attached his mouth to her breast and started sucking. He flicked his tongue over her hard nipple and then gave it a little bite. Marlene screamed out loud with lust and her eyes rolled back. For Sirius this was just another goad and so he now dedicated his attention to her other tit as he released his hand from her thigh to play with the first breast instead.

Marlene's moaning became more and more frequent and Sirius decided to drift the whole thing a little further. His right hand slipped from her thigh to her wet core and his finger gently drove across her slit once. She inevitably bucked her hips in the hope of creating more friction between the two.

"Sirius, please..." Marlene looked at him pleadingly, unable to finish the sentence, but the grin on Sirius's face told her he wouldn't make it that easy for her.

"Please what?" his finger slipped over her sensitive area once more and this time he made sure to also slightly touch her clit. Marlene took a sharp breath and opened her mouth, but no words came out. The alcohol already made it hard enough for her to think and speak, but in conjunction with Sirius' touches it seemed almost impossible.

"Leeny." He gave her a little kiss on the mouth. "If you want something from me," he now kissed her neck, "Then you have to tell me what it is." He continued, placing a kiss on her shoulder this time. "Because if you don’t," followed by two more kisses on her breasts, "Then I can't give you,” his mouth went further down and now kissed her belly, “What you want.” When he said the last words he was only a few centimetres away from that part of her that yearned so longingly for a touch, staring straight into her eyes.

"I… I want… I..." Marlene's head seemed to be filled with thousands of thoughts buzzing around, but she could not grasp a clear thought. She couldn't even imagine what a mess there would be if Sirius actually touched her in the right way, and this was already fazing her. She tried to pull herself together to bring out at least one sentence, "I want you. I want you to touch me there and I want to feel you inside me. Please.”

"Well, if you ask me so nicely," he leaned forward and flicked his tongue over her clit once. The sensation made her scream out loud again while her hand automatically reached for his head to grip his hair. "Then of course I can't help but give in," immediately after he said it, he pushed his finger into her with a jerky movement, just to remove it really slowly again. Marlene moaned repeatedly lustfully.

Sirius repeated the process a few times, but each time removed his finger so painfully slowly that Marlene thought she couldn't take it much longer. Just as her whole body was tense and longing for more, Sirius added a second finger. But instead of slowly pulling it out again as before, this time he started pumping in and out quickly, repeatedly hitting the perfect spot.

Out of pleasure Marlene threw her head so far back that her whole back bent. She thought it would be impossible to feel any more pleasure as she suddenly felt Sirius' tongue licking over her clit again and again. After he rammed his fingers into her once more and then pulled them out again, his mouth suddenly took over the position of his hand. As he ate her out, his thumb continued to caress her most sensitive spot.

Marlene's whole body was tense and she could feel the orgasm building. She moved her hips even closer to Sirius hoping that he would finally give her the redeeming feeling. All her thoughts revolved around Sirius as he laid between her legs, giving her as much pleasure as few could. She was sure that she would come any second when he suddenly just let go of her and left her without a trace of touch.

"What in Merlin's name are you doing? Are you aware of how close I was to coming?" Marlene hadn't planned to sound so desperate, but every cell in her body was craving so much for a touch that she was barely able to control her voice. Desperately, she reached out for Sirius in an attempt to be closer to him, but he grabbed her wrists and held them tightly over her head.

"Believe me, Leeny, I'm well aware of that," he gave her another little kiss. "But I can't make it that easy for you, especially not now that I know how nice you can ask for something. So beg for it.”

"Really?" Marlene had enough of him teasing her. It was time she got revenge. So she quickly freed her hands from his grip and moved so that she was now sitting on top of him, his body between her widely spread legs, "I'd much rather hear you begging me for it."

She also began to kiss his body first, paying particular attention to every little scar on his body. Meanwhile she drove her hands along the contours of his muscles. She had never paid much attention to Sirius' physique, but since he had come to her in the water, she couldn't help but notice how incredibly well built he was.

Arriving at his manhood, she first drove her finger over the tip and then completely encompass his hardened member. She looked straight into his eyes as she closed her mouth around his cock and pushed him as deep in as she could. His eyes became dark with lust and Marlene felt his hand on the back of her head holding her in this position.

She slowly moved her head up and down, trying to take him even deeper every time. What she couldn’t fit, she worked off with her hand. She twirled her tongue around the tip of his dick and reaped a deep grunt from him, encouraging her to continue.

With each joyful output from his side she got faster. Soon he bucked his hips and pushed even deeper into her mouth. He pushed himself so deeply into Marlene's throat that she had to gag, but his hand on the back of her head prevented her from letting go of him. All this time she hadn't broken eye contact with Sirius and she could see that this was not intentional. What she could see, however, was that Sirius was approaching his climax. He was almost there, and she felt his limb twitching in her mouth as she just let go of him.

"Are you fucking serious?” he looked at her indignantly.

"You know right now I'm actually thinking about not doing it," she couldn't help but start grinning. In his eyes she could see how much he wanted her at that moment. Knowing that she had such an influence on him gave her a wonderful feeling of power. But apparently this feeling made her much too careless, because the next second she was lying on the grass with her back, Sirius bent over her again.

"Spread your legs," his tone was domineering, as if he wouldn't allow any objection. And yet Marlene wouldn't let him just win now. So she leaned so far forward that her lips were right next to his ear and whispered quietly, "Beg for it.”

"Spread them. Now!" his look told her that he didn’t even think about asking for it. But as the two had often noticed, she could be just as stubborn as he was. So she pressed her legs even tighter together and shook her head. For a moment there was silence, but then Sirius pressed out between clenched teeth, "Please."

A smile spread across her face and as her upper body lowered back onto the grass, her legs opened wide. Sirius did not hesitate a second and entered her. She was so wet that he could easily push his entire length into her. His cock completely filled her out and stretched her walls. With the feeling of his member inside of her, Marlene let out another moan.

As he repeatedly penetrated her, he kept hitting her G-spot, making her soon feel her orgasm build up again, this time even stronger than before. Sirius also seemed to be approaching his climax. His movements became sloppier and he leaned his forehead against hers.

"Marls, I can't go on much longer. Are you… are you there yet?" Marlene nodded even though she only heard his voice remotely. She felt her walls tightening around his dick and her whole body was hoping for the satisfying feeling. The next thrust hit her in exactly the right spot and she felt her climax suddenly taking over her whole body. Her back bent and she screamed Sirius' name at the top of her lungs.

Her reaction then also brought Sirius over the edge. With one last thrust he shot his load into her warm womanhood. The strength in his arms was weakening and he crumpled on her. His head rested on her chest as both tried to catch their breaths.


	8. Chapter 8

When Marlene woke up the next morning, the first thing she felt was the unbearable headache. She opened her eyes and immediately regretted it. Apparently she had forgotten to draw the curtains before falling asleep, so the sun was now shining right in her face. She would have loved to stay in bed all day. Her mother would certainly not have suspected anything and if she did and even if she did she could simply say that it was because of the divorce. However, she also knew that her hangover would not get any better by that.

So she opened the drawer of her bedside cabinet and took out the amphora with the potion to help in exactly such cases. She drank the little bottle empty and headed for the bathroom. After she undressed, she stepped inside the shower and tried to wash away all the traces of the past day. As the warm water and steam wrapped around her body, she could feel the potion begin to work.

As the booming feeling in her head seemed to get better, she tried to remember yesterday. The first thing that came to her mind was her mother's message about her parents' divorce and also her way to the little bar in London she could still remember. Next she thought of Sirius appearing there and… All her memories suddenly came back and ran off like a film in front of her inner eye. The encounter with Sirius' mother, the fire whisky in the forest, bathing in the lake and the sex.

How on earth could this have happened? Sirius was her best friend. She knew him since the two were children. She would never have thought of sleeping with him. But maybe she didn't do that at all. Maybe everything had been just a dream. She thought about this possibility while she stepped out of the shower, but a look in the mirror taught her better. Her entire neck, as well as large parts of her bosom, were covered with hickeys. So not a dream after all.

Marlene quickly pulled on some clothes and then returned to her room, where she dropped onto her bed and buried her face in her pillow. Why did something like this happen to her of all people? Her whole brain seemed to think about what an awful decision this was, what terrible consequences it could have and that it was probably the stupidest decision of her life. But the only thought that really stood out was that it had felt good, that it had felt right.

Once the thought had crossed her mind, she could only think about it. It had indeed felt incredibly good and if it hadn't been Sirius, she would definitely have tried to see the person who could make her feel such things again as soon as possible. But that was the problem. It wasn't just anyone, it was Sirius.

She didn't know what to do next. Should she tell someone? Probably rather not, at least not until she had talked to Sirius herself about it. So it would probably be best to just talk to him about the situation, but what if what he felt about this was very different from what she felt like? She wasn't even sure how she felt about it. It was clear to her that she had no romantic feelings for Sirius, but to say that there was only friendship between the two was no longer possible.

As she thought about it, she felt her headache returning. So she decided not to think about the subject again until she was hangover free and had a clear mind. Then she could become aware of her own feelings without her brain still being dizzy. And if she then knew what the situation meant to her, she would simply wait for Sirius to raise the issue so as not to put him in an uncomfortable situation.

It all sounded like a good plan for her because she would soon put it into action. But before that she crawled back under her blanket and tried to find sleep to clear her head. Even if she had to admit that a small part of her hoped that she would forget the whole thing. An even smaller part, however, whose existence she would deny at all costs, hoped that a similar situation would soon arise again.

* * *

Two weeks had passed without Marlene hearing from him and she slowly lost hope that he would come to her and address the subject. Perhaps it was better that way. While waiting for Sirius to talk about what had happened between them, she had always wished to be able to avoid this conversation. He seemed to have similar feelings and so she saw absolutely no reason to seek a conversation with him. 

Marlene opened the letter in her hand. When she had taken it from the pile of mail, she had first assumed hopefully it was from Sirius. But when she opened it she noticed that it was in fact from James. He and the other boys had apparently decided to have a party at the Potters' estate next weekend. Although she was looking forward to seeing all her friends again, she was still nervous to meet Sirius.

She put the letter on her desk and then made her way to her wardrobe. She wouldn't miss this party just because she wanted to avoid Sirius. If he didn't think what had happened was important enough, Marlene had no reason to worry. She would go to this party and she would look great.

* * *

Even before she saw the Potters' house, Marlene could hear the loud music. She entered the property and entered the house through the open door. Looking for James, she made her way through the dancing people. Again and again she was greeted by a familiar face, but she did not talk to anyone for long.

When she arrived in the kitchen, she also found James, who filled a cup with punch. When he saw her, a smile spread out on his face and he reached for another cup to fill it up for Marlene. As soon as she stood next to him, he pressed it into her hand.

"At first I wasn't sure if you would come because I hadn't heard from you, but it’s great to see that you are here.”

“C’mon you know me, I wouldn’t miss such a party,” The blonde laughed briefly and took a sip of the sweet liquid, "Did you..." Marlene was just about to talk when suddenly another person entered the kitchen. Sirius stood frozen in the doorway when he saw Marlene.

"Hi."

"Hey," for a moment neither of them moved. Marlene suddenly felt incredibly uncomfortable. She was about to take another sip when she remembered what happened the last time she drank too much. So she placed the cup next to her and looked back at Sirius in the hope that he would say something. But when another moment passed without either of them saying anything, James interfered.

"Is everything okay? Why are you two acting like you've never spoken before?" Marlene could tell from the confusion in his voice that Sirius apparently hadn't told him what had happened. On the one hand she was relieved that the whole thing was still secret, on the other hand she couldn’t help, but wonder if Sirius was ashamed of her.

"Nah, it's fine. I was actually just looking for Peter. I'll see you later, Marlene," and with that he scurried out of the room and disappeared into the crowd.

Marlene remained perplexed. The whole time she had been thinking about how he would react and now this. She was speechless. Didn’t he care about the whole thing at all? Did it make no difference to him? She could feel how rage started boiling inside of her. Well, if he had decided to ignore it, then she would also do that.

She had probably starred a little too long angrily in the direction Sirius had stood before, because James began to look at her strangely from the side. Before he had the chance to address her, she quickly found an excuse to leave the room and stormed towards the dancing people, hoping to find some distraction there.

At first she thought about looking for her friends, who were undoubtedly here as well, but she was afraid that they would recognize her state of mind and pester her with questions. So she just went under the dancing crowd and started to move to the rhythm of the music.

When a new song started playing, she turned around and accidentally collided with another person. Unfortunately, this resulted in her spilling his drink over his shirt.

"Oh, I'm so sorry. That really wasn't intentional, I hadn't seen you."

"Don't worry, it doesn't matter," when Marlene looked at the boy, she noticed that unlike most others, he wasn't in her year. Nevertheless, she knew him, his name was Nathan and he was only one year above her. Normally she probably wouldn't have recognized him, but he was one of the two beaters of the Gryffindor Quidditch team, which probably explained why James had invited him. She wanted to apologize again when he continued, "You are Marlene, aren't you? Marlene McKinnon?"

"Yes, I am," she was completely puzzled. How did he know her name? She wasn't part of the Quidditch team, wasn't a perfect, and there was no other reason why anyone like Nathan should know her. The two had crossed paths a few times in the common room, but had never spoken to each other.

"I'm Nathan Torres, by the way."

"I know," he seemed confused for a moment, so she quickly added, "I know you from Quidditch field."

"Oh of course. I would get myself a new drink now, do you want one too," Marlene hesitated briefly. She didn't really want to drink anymore, but she also noticed that she suddenly felt an incredible thirst. So she nodded at him agreeing, "Well, I'll be right back."

Shortly afterwards he reappeared with two drinks and handed one of them to Marlene. Marlene spent the rest of the evening talking and dancing with Nathan. Even though it wasn't her intention, she couldn't help, but flirt with him a little bit. She didn't know what it was, but something about him made her feel incredibly good and the longer she talked to him, the more she seemed to forget her previous encounter with Sirius.

Soon she found herself in his arms, her body pressed firmly against his. Without really understanding how it happened, she already felt Nathan's lips against hers. She immediately gave in and allowed him to kiss her more and more passionately. Marlene wasn't exactly aware of how they got there, but soon the two were no longer on the dance floor, but in one of the corridors where they were undisturbed. She had her back pressed against the wall and Nathan was leaning close to her.

Suddenly she heard footsteps beside her. She opened her eyes to see who approached them. When she saw it was Sirius, she immediately released her grip from Nathan and tried to push him slightly away from her.

"Sirius, I..."

"It's all right, Marlene. I actually wanted to talk to you about what happened, but I guess that doesn’t matter now anymore," he left before Marlene had a chance to stop him.

"What does that mean?” Nathan looked at her confusedly, but Marlene really had no nerve to explain it to him somehow.

"It's nothing. Just ignore him and go on," she leaned forward again and continued kissing him. Even though her thoughts kept wandering off to another one.


	9. Chapter 9

Marlene spent the rest of the holidays almost exclusively with her friends. Surprisingly, her father had already returned home after a few days, much to her mother's chagrin. Her parents quarrelled more and more, making it unbearable for her to stay any longer than necessary. Her parents kept trying to pull her to one side and convince her that it was all the other's fault by telling her everything bad the other had ever done. None of them seemed to care how much it hurt their daughter to hear such things about her own parents.

But the return of her father was not the only surprising thing. What at first only seemed like a little flirt had actually developed into a more serious relationship between her and Nathan within the last few weeks. In the beginning there had only been a few letters, but due to the free time the two could see each other more and more often. For the first time since her breakup with Olivia, Marlene truly felt like she could trust someone without having to fear of getting heartbroken again.

Unfortunately, not all her relationships developed so well. Marlene hadn't seen Sirius since James' party and hadn't had any other contact with him. After the incident at the party she was very angry at him at first. She just couldn't understand why he ignored the whole thing. Admittedly he had tried to talk about it later, but the fact that Marlene was kissing someone else seemed to interest him very little.

Again she had convinced herself that this was the best way. Sirius had never been anyone who had serious relationships. Probably he was secretly even happy that Marlene had found someone else and didn't try to run after him. But no matter how often she told herself that, she couldn't forget the hurt expression in his eyes when he saw her and Nathan together.

While her friendship with Sirius, as well as her family situation at home, seemed to be falling apart, Marlene felt like her relationship with Nathan was the only stable thing in her life. It was not uncommon for her to leave the house early in the morning and return late in the evening.

To her parents she seemingly was only useful in order to stir her up against the other, but whenever she met with her boyfriend she felt she was indeed valued. It was the first time in a long time that she thought she was actually important in someone else's life, and he was one of the few people close to her at the time who didn’t seem to distance themselves from her.

The meetings with him always went too fast and Marlene wished this holiday would never end and she could just stay with him. But before she knew it, the holidays were over and the young couple was soon on their way to Hogwarts.

At first she had been looking forward to it, as she could now see her friends as well as Nathan every day, but the reality was unfortunately different. Instead of spending more time with her boyfriend, Marlene realized that it was getting harder and harder to meet him there. This was his last year and even though the school year had just begun, he had hardly any time to meet her between studying, homework, lessons and Quidditch training.

"Morning, beautiful," Marlene felt her boyfriend's arms wrap around her waist from behind, his mouth placing a gentle kiss on her neck. She turned her head to the side so that he could kiss her lips.

"Good morning," she inevitably began to smile as she saw him and he joined her in the free space next to her in the Great Hall.

The blonde tried to stay at the breakfast table as long as possible to spend as much time as she could with Nathan. But like every other day, time for classes came too quickly and she had to say goodbye.

"I have to go, if I'm late again, McGonagall will certainly put me into detention," she gave him another kiss and wanted to hurry away when Nathan held her back.

"Wait, I'm out early today because Professor Sprout is still sick. So as long as I finish my extra homework in time, we could spend some time together before I have to head out for training? How does that sound?”

"Sounds great. Five o'clock down at the lake?"

Can’t wait for it," He pulled her in for a last kiss before she hurried off to the transfiguration classroom.

The day went by agonizingly slowly and Marlene couldn't stop staring at the clock as if hoping that time would pass faster. Only potions prevented her from finally seeing her boyfriend again. Unfortunately the lesson had only just begun and now it felt like time was not moving at all.

As Marlen dozed in and out of paying attention, Lily nudged her slightly from the side to tell her to cut something or add an ingredient to the potion. Professor Slughorn's words and the rest of the lesson she perceived only remotely as her thoughts revolved solely around the upcoming meeting. Her attention only snapped back completely when she heard a loud bang, followed by a scream.

Shocked, she looked up and saw some of her classmates hectically running around a smoking cauldron. With a movement of his wand Professor Slughorn made the smoke disappear and most of the students calmed down now that they could see something. Only now did Marlene notice the girl lying unconscious on the floor.

"Caldwell, Gates, please help me get Mrs. Hatfield to the Hospital Wing. The lesson is over earlier today. The rest of you please clean up, then you can go."

Even though Marlene was worried about the girl, she was happy to leave earlier. With a little luck Nathan would study in the library and she could find him there. As soon as her workspace was clean, she set off.

Arriving at the library she was disappointed to find out that her boyfriend wasn't there. However, there were some more students from his year there. Marlene decided to ask them if they knew where Nathan was at the time. And indeed, one of them could tell her that Nathan had returned to his room to study.

She quickly made her way to the boys' bedrooms. Since Marlene had already spent several nights there, she didn't have to search long for the right room. Before she entered, she knocked briefly on the door, even though she suspected Nathan's roommates were all in the library, she preferred to make sure she didn't bother any of them. Nevertheless, she opened the door without waiting for an answer and wanted to enter, but stopped in the door frame.

In Nathan's bed she could see two figures hastily let go of each other. Her boyfriend looked at her in shock, apparently not expecting anyone to catch him. The girl next to him tried hard to cover herself with the blanket, the whole situation was visibly unpleasant for her.

She would have preferred to yell at him, throw things at him or hex him, but she could not. It was as if the huge pain in her chest covered all her anger. Without saying a word, she stormed out of the room. As she ran down the stairs, she felt her eyes fill with tears. By the time she reached the bottom of the stairs, her eyes were so wet that she couldn't see, and so she collided with someone. She wanted to ignore that and just keep running as the figure lightly grasped her arm.

"Leeny? What's going on? Why are you crying?" Sirius' voice sounded worried, but Marlene really didn't feel like talking to him now, especially after the two had ignored each other for so long. How was it that he seemed to be there every time she was feeling bad or crying? But instead of answering, she pulled her arm out of his grip and just kept walked.

She spent the rest of the evening crying in her bed. She didn't even leave it for dinner, even though her friends tried to persuade her more than once. Between all her sobs she had actually managed to bring out a few words and tell them what had happened. Again and again her friends took her in their arms or told her that everything would be fine and what an idiot Nathan was, but none of it seemed to help.

When Marlene forced herself out of bed the next morning, she was horrified to think that she might see Nathan in the Great Hall. She had first thought about pretending to be sick to skip class, but Lily and Dorcas had stopped her and now she shuffled down the stairs to the Great Hall.

With every second Marlene spent there, she became more nervous. How would she react if she saw him? She was even more angry at him than the day before and yet she didn't think she had the strength to say anything. But in the moments she pondered how to react, he appeared in the hall.

His left eye was dark blue, his lips swollen and there was a plaster over what she assumed to be a broken nose underneath. He seemed to have been beaten pretty badly between the previous evening and that morning. Even though she knew it wasn't supposed to make her that happy, she felt a tremendous sense of joy. But before she had time to enjoy the whole thing, Mary pushed her towards the exit to get to class.

"In this lesson, we will continue to focus on non-verbal spells. I want you all to face your partner and try to disarm them without actually saying the words. For those of you who have been paying attention in the last few lessons, this should not be a problem. Everyone else, well, we'll see. Foremann you go to Williamson. Potter to Lupin. Caldwell you work with Kelly. McKinnon you with Black. Fawley you..."

Marlene had stopped listening after her name came up and a side glance at Sirius told her that he must have felt the same way. Reluctantly she went to him and faced him hoping to finish this exercise as soon as possible.

"Leeny, I..."

"I don't want to talk about it. Can we just practice?"

He obviously would have preferred to talk about it, but he remained silent. They both pointed their wands at each other and concentrated. At least they tried. Marlene had a hard time concentrating considering everything that had happened and before she knew it, her wand was already flying out of her hand. In the corners of his mouth she could see a hint of a grin. Oh, no, she wouldn't give him the satisfaction.

Quickly she picked up her wand and tried to concentrate better this time. She focused on the wand in his hand and didn't let it out of her sight while she tried to recite the spell in her mind. But something distracted her. She hadn't paid enough attention before to notice it, but now she saw that Sirius' knuckles were bandaged. The next second her wand flew out of her hand again, but this time she didn't pick it up.

"Come on, Marls, you need to concentrate more."

"What happened to your hand?" she didn't even try to respond to his comment. His face changed suddenly when she spoke to him. At first he grinned, but now he didn't even look at her properly. Marlene already suspected what it meant, but she wanted to be sure, so she asked again, "Sirius. What happened to your hand?

"You said you didn't want to talk about it."

"Does that mean that Nathan was...?”

"MCKINNON, BLACK! As far as I remember, the special thing about non-verbal spells is that you do them without talking."

They actually spent the rest of the lessons without talking. Marlene soon succeeded in disarming Sirius several times before the lesson was finally over. Sirius was quick to run out of the classroom, but Marlene caught up with him easily.

"Now wait a minute. Did you do this to Nathan?" Marlene didn't get an answer, but his eyes said it all, "So yes. Why on earth did you do that?”

"Are you really asking me that? After what the guy did to you?"

"How do you know that?"

"You ran up to me crying yesterday and when I went up the stairs Nathan came out of his room with another girl. Didn't take very long to add up one and one and I might have reacted a little impulsively."

Marlene couldn't help it, but in the next moment she had fallen around Sirius' neck and embraced him as tightly as she could.

"Thank you," she whispered quietly into his ear before stepping back a bit, "But promise me you won't do that again. I don't want you to get into trouble because of me.”

* * *

It seemed as if everything between the two had been clarified after this conversation. Things returned to normal and Marlene and Sirius spent more of their free time together again. Especially in the time after her breakup with Nathan, Sirius helped her very much, just like he did after the breakup with Olivia.

When Halloween came no one could even remember that the two had not spoken to each other for months before. The rekindled friendship between her and Sirius was exactly what Marlene needed at that time, as the letters Marlene regularly received from her parents told her that their feelings for each other cooled down even faster every day than the temperatures outside.

When she received her mother's first letter asking Marlene to celebrate the holidays with her, she saw no reason to refuse. But just one day later another owl brought a letter from her father asking her to spend Christmas with him. Marlene hesitated for weeks to reply. She would never forgive her father for cheating on her mother, especially not after the incident with Nathan, but after everything her father had told her, her mother was not exactly innocence in person. But at some point she would have to make a decision.

In fact, the solution to her problem came through the door in a drenched Quidditch uniform as she was sitting on Sirius' bed, explaining her dilemma to him. After she told James about her problem too, he asked her to celebrate Christmas with him and Sirius at the Potters’. He assured her several times that his parents would certainly have no problem with that and that he would send them an owl immediately.

So it happened that Marlene spent Christmas with the Potters and as for New Year’s Eve, the three already had plans. James' parents would celebrate the New Year with some friends, so the teenagers would have the house to themselves. The three decided to throw a big New Year's Eve party. In fact, more people came to this party than to the one during summer, now that not only James and Sirius, but also Marlene, invited their entire circle of friends and so the house was overcrowded on New Year's Eve.

It was just before midnight and Marlene tried to make her way through the masses to find Sirius. The two had promised to be the first to celebrate the New Year together and so she had been walking around with a glass of champagne and a glass of juice for what felt like an eternity until she finally found him.

"There you are at last, I've been looking everywhere for you."

"Then you must be really bad at it, because I was here all the time," he took the glass of juice that she gave him and his eyes fell on the glass of champagne in her hand, "I thought you didn't want to drink anymore?”

"I didn't, so far I'm sober, but I thought to drink a glass of sparkling wine to toast to the new year can't hurt. Maybe the no alcohol rule is something for the new year. What about you, any resolutions for next year?"

"Yes, but I'm afraid I won't be able to tell you what it is until midnight," Marlene was surprised at his answer, but decided not to ask any more questions. There were only a few minutes left anyway and she would endure it that long.

When time was finally up, they all started counting down from 10. At 0 thousands of fireworks shot into the air outside and let the sky shine in the most colourful lights. Radiant with joy Marlene turned to Sirius.

"Happy New Year."

"Happy New Year, Leeny," she was about to ask him for his resolution as he suddenly took her face in his hands and kissed her. At first she was surprised, but then she felt the warm feeling that she felt the first time Sirius comforted her after her breakup from Olivia. And then again, as they swam naked in the lake and approached each other and now it was there again. It felt so good that Marlene wished it would never end, but the next moment the kiss was already over.

"New Year's resolution: Tell Leeny we should be more than 'just friends'," he was obviously nervous to say it, it almost seemed like he was afraid of what she would say next. But Marlene didn't say anything. Instead, she pulled him down to her and pressed her lips against his again.


	10. Chapter 10

Marlene had never really understood it when people talked about how everything changed when you fell in love. Songs in which the artists expressed their feelings and sang that they would now feel like a different person. Books in which the lives of the protagonists took a 180° turn as soon as they found someone for whom they were meant to be. Films that gave the impression that the couple would live happily ever after. All this seemed incredibly unrealistic to her. The idea that a single person could change her life in this way seemed too close to impossible. Of course, she had been in love before and had felt that something in her life was changing, but nothing ever came close to this in media presented idea. At least not until that New Year's Eve.

She couldn't say what it was, but something felt different. It wasn't her whole life that had changed, it were small situations she perceived differently. If she was stressed or annoyed by something, she wouldn't talk to him about it, just because she thought it would help her to speak, but because she knew that his presence alone offered her comfort. When something exciting happened or she received good news, she could hardly wait to tell him and share her joy. And when she thought about her future, then she found herself more and more often imagining spending it with him.

So it wasn't surprising that they moved in together immediately after graduating, albeit with a few small obstacles. Her friendship with Sirius had been a thorn in the side of her parents ever since he was disinherited, but at the latest when they learned of their daughter's new relationship with him, they tried with all their might to keep them away from each other. The fact that Walburga regularly complained to Marlene's mother that Marlene was the reason for Sirius' bad behaviour did not necessarily make the whole thing any better. But that didn't stop Marlene from moving to Sirius, only strengthened her in her decision.

Although she had finally managed to escape her slowly decaying family, her life was not always peaceful. Of course, living with Sirius made her overjoyed and yet a great shadow hovered over the young couple and it was called war. Dumbledore had asked them and some of their friends during their last school year if they would join the Order of the Phoenix. Almost everyone had agreed and so it happened that the two of them were now called back to the harsh reality again and again and regularly risked their lives in the process.

As many times before, Moody had called all members together to bring everyone up to date and as always, he ended the meeting with a warning to everyone that they had to be on their guard at all times. A few members left headquarters immediately after he finished his speech. Marlene and Sirius were among those who stayed for a while to talk to their other friends. While Marlene was talking excitedly with Dorcas, Emmeline and Alice - and, of course, little Neville on her lap - Sirius was standing rather apart from the group. The Potters had been in hiding for a long time and Remus also appeared less and less recently at the meetings of the Order, without telling anyone where he was. The absence of his friends obviously saddened Sirius very much, yet, or perhaps because of it, he was particularly glad that he still had Peter, who was now the only one standing beside him. The two young wizards were still talking as Marlene approached them. 

"Sirius, I promised Mary I'd meet her right away. Do you want to come with me or do we just meet again at home later?”

"I think I'd rather leave you two girls alone. I love you."

"I love you," they kissed before she left the quarters and apparated to Mary's apartment. As soon as she had opened the door, the two friends were already in each other's arms. After Marlene had entered, the two went into the living room and took a seat on the sofa.

"Tell me, how are you? I hope you're not in too much danger," Mary looked at her friend worriedly. She had been one of the few who had refused to join the Order at that time. The fact that her friends put themselves in danger almost every day still scared the hell out of her.

"I'm fine and the others are too. Lily and James are safe and the rest of us are looking out for each other."

"Have you visited them yet? It must be hard to have to hide for so long."

"No, unfortunately not. Dumbledore wants to keep the list of people who know who the secret keeper is as small as possible, even if it's actually a rather open secret", Marlene took a short break. She didn't like the idea that Sirius would take over this important task. Not because she didn't trust him, but because she was afraid that Voldemort would send people to get the information from him. Mary had apparently noticed that her friend would rather avoid the subject, so she tried to change it quickly after a few moments of awkward silence.

"Yesterday I did an interview for the daily prophet with one of the doctors at St. Mungos. Apparently they're working on an improved method to cure dragon pox," it wasn't perhaps the most exciting topic, but Marlene was incredibly happy about the distraction and the two were then involved in a conversation about it that was actually more interesting than Marlene thought at first. But during their conversation, Marlene felt more and more uncomfortable, until she finally apologized and immediately ran towards the bathroom to vomit. When she came back, Mary looked at her anxiously again.

"Is everything all right? Are you sick? Did you eat something wrong?"

"No, this happened quiet a couple of times the last few days, but otherwise I'm fine, it's probably nothing bad, don't worry," most of the others would probably have believed her, but Mary had lived with her for seven years and was able to determine pretty well whether she was telling the truth or not and now definitely the second was the case. At first she didn't know why her friend didn't say anything, but then a thought came to her.

"Maybe you should do a test. You know…a pregnancy test," she let her suggestion sink in for a few seconds, wanted to see how Marlene reacted. Maybe Mary was completely wrong with her guess, maybe it was nothing and Marlene would immediately explain how absolutely ridiculous this idea was, but the moment Marlene looked at her, Mary already knew the answer, "You already did the test.”

She briefly considered what to say next, how best to help her friend, but Marlene began to speak to her: "I did it three days ago. Sirius doesn't know yet, I didn't know how to tell him. But can we please not talk about it, I'm still trying to repress the whole thing," Mary thought Marlene should definitely talk about it and yet she accepted her friend's wish. The two soon started talking about other things again and yet the mood seemed to have changed. Even as Marlene left, Mary felt that they should have talked more about the subject.

After saying goodbye to Mary, she wandered around for a while to clear her head. The last three days had not been easy. Sirius had been on a mission for the Order at the time she decided to take the test. She had previously suspected, or much more feared, that she had caught more than just a flu, but only when she was sure that he would not burst in unexpectedly had she dared to check her suspicion.

It had been the longest five minutes of her life. Spellbound she had stared at the small stick in front of her. Again and again she repeated in her head her wish not to be pregnant, almost as if she were praying for it, but to whom? To the universe? To a God? To another supernatural power? She did not know. And apparently it had not worked either. The red plus on the test seemed to shout at her and brought her back from her thoughts into the hard reality.

She couldn't remember how long she just sat there and cried. Time seemed completely insignificant to her at that moment. Her thoughts were spinning in circles like a carousel and images of the worst possible scenarios were playing out in front of her eyes, so colorful and lively and yet so dark and frightening at the same time. She thought of Sirius and how he would react, of thousands of possibilities as she told him and as many possibilities as he left her for that reason. She thought of Lily and her fears when she learned that she was pregnant. At that time Marlene had been the one who had tried to take those same fears away from her who had tried to convince her that everything would be fine, but now? It seemed so silly to her what she had tried to persuade Lily back then. She thought of the war, the misery, the torture and the death, which she experienced almost daily in one form or another and which laid over her life like a single big shadow, determined to devour every tiny spark of hope and destroy it to the last.

Back home she stopped for a moment in front of the door. She still didn't know how to tell Sirius, so she just decided to put it off for a while. Although she knew there was no point in prolonging it, she couldn't help it. So she gathered briefly before finally opening the door to the shared apartment. The first thing she noticed was the chorus of one of her favourite songs, which seemed to come from the kitchen. The second was the smell of something burnt. Suspecting nothing good, she made her way towards the kitchen and was not surprised to see Sirius dumping something in the trash that could hardly be identified because of its black colour. As he did, he cursed, but stopped as soon as he saw Marlene.

"I was actually hoping I could surprise you with that, but I think I did something wrong," a little smile spread across his face as he walked up to her and kissed her, "How was Mary?"

Even though it was just a harmless question, it caused enough panic in Marlene. She felt that only a small movement, a wrong word, a tiny change in her face could tell everything. So she tried to stay calm and answer as normally as possible.

"It was great. Mary told me about an interesting interview she had the other day. Oh and she finally gave me the book I told you about," Marlene pulled the thick book out of her purse. Already weeks ago Mary had told her in a letter that she had found a strange old book about runes at a flea market. Knowing that her friend had been fascinated by these old signs since her school days, she had bought it for her and waited only for an opportunity to give it to her.

The rest of the evening was pretty quiet, even though this was the last word Marlene would have used to describe her state of mind. Due to Sirius' unsuccessful attempt at cooking, the two decided to order pizza without further ado. As soon as she had eaten, Marlene could hardly wait to take a look at the new book. Like a sponge she absorbed every word and if she had been able to, she would have sat on the sofa all evening and certainly read the whole book to the end. But something stopped her, or rather someone. At first she felt his hand slowly gliding up and down her thigh. Then came his lips. Gently, as if stroked by the wings of a butterfly. First on her temple, then on her cheek and finally on her jawline. Marlene closed her eyes briefly to concentrate fully on his touch. She felt his mouth wandering along her neck and couldn't help but let out a little moan. But as much as she greeted his touch, she couldn’t do anything else, but to turn away from him.

"Do you really rather want to read now?" He sounded confused and also a little disappointed.

"Only this one chapter. Why don't you go to bed, I promise I'll catch up," in reply he briefly pressed her thigh once and then walked towards the bedroom. She looked after him for a moment, but then turned her attention back to the book on her lap. At the part she was currently reading the author told the stories of some witches and wizards who had contributed a small but important part to rune research. She turned to the next page and was about to read on as a picture in the top corner of the page caught her eye. Marlene would have recognized these runes among thousands. They were the same ones she had seen all too often as a child, and the same ones that now adorned Sirius' back. Without hesitation her gaze wandered to the caption:

"Sitara (long-branch runes)"

Based on what she had learned on the pages before, this was apparently the name of a long-deceased witch, who had tried many decades ago to translate ancient Danish rune texts in order to gain new knowledge about the beasts living there. Marlene smiled to herself. For years she had been trying to figure out what these runes could mean, and now that she had given up searching for them long ago, the answer just came that way to her. Without realizing what she was doing, she stroked her hand over her belly and whispered quietly:

"Sitara, would be a beautiful name, wouldn't you agree?"

And for the first time since she had been staring at the little red plus, another thought spread through her head. In front of her she saw a little girl with wild, curly, black hair and bright blue eyes. She seemed to be playing with some toys and laughed. It was just the laughter of a little girl, but to Marlene it sounded like music in her ears. Suddenly she could feel someone put two hands on her shoulders from behind and then place a gentle kiss on her neck. She didn't have to turn around to know it was Sirius. As she watched the little girl, she could feel his arms wrapping around her, drawing her closer to him. But probably the biggest change was the feeling that suddenly seemed to take over her whole body. It was a feeling of peace.


End file.
